2007: Frederick H. Bealefeld III

Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam

Where he came from: Baltimore Deputy commissioner - operations Bealefeld was well-known after being a very visible deputy commissioner, and had built community support and wanted the job. He had joined the agency at age 18, and worked various units and commanded the Southern District. But Mayor Sheila Dixon, amid a soaring homicide rate, was pressed to hire an outsider. Charles Ramsey, the former chief in Washington, D.C., had signed a contract before Dixon at the last minute bucked her advisers, rescinding Ramsey's deal and offering Bealefeld the job. Bealefeld oversaw steep crime declines, with homicides dipping below 200 to give the city its lowest murder rate since the late 1980s, and reversed zero tolerance policies of his predecessors.

Where he came from: Baltimore Deputy commissioner - operations Bealefeld was well-known after being a very visible deputy commissioner, and had built community support and wanted the job. He had joined the agency at age 18, and worked various units and commanded the Southern District. But Mayor Sheila Dixon, amid a soaring homicide rate, was pressed to hire an outsider. Charles Ramsey, the former chief in Washington, D.C., had signed a contract before Dixon at the last minute bucked her advisers, rescinding Ramsey's deal and offering Bealefeld the job. Bealefeld oversaw steep crime declines, with homicides dipping below 200 to give the city its lowest murder rate since the late 1980s, and reversed zero tolerance policies of his predecessors. (Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam)

Where he came from: Baltimore Deputy commissioner - operations Bealefeld was well-known after being a very visible deputy commissioner, and had built community support and wanted the job. He had joined the agency at age 18, and worked various units and commanded the Southern District. But Mayor Sheila Dixon, amid a soaring homicide rate, was pressed to hire an outsider. Charles Ramsey, the former chief in Washington, D.C., had signed a contract before Dixon at the last minute bucked her advisers, rescinding Ramsey's deal and offering Bealefeld the job. Bealefeld oversaw steep crime declines, with homicides dipping below 200 to give the city its lowest murder rate since the late 1980s, and reversed zero tolerance policies of his predecessors.